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I have been reading and working a lot with Grouping Sets in SQL lately. So, I decided to write about it this month. Grouping Sets is a feature which was introduced in SQL 2005 however, MSSQL 2008 has a different syntax which I will mention on this blog. The old syntax which was introduced with MSSQL 2005 will no longer be available for future versions of MSSQL so, that is an important thing to take into consideration. As a reminder, a general GROUP BY clause includes GROUPING SETS, CUBE, ROLLUP, WITH CUBE, or WITH ROLLUP. Let’s start creating an example table first.

During an upgrade from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 we discovered an issue in scripting that caused things to break even though scripts are backwards compatible. There is a field/attribute called fullname that is hidden and auto-populated based on first, middle and last names and is saved with the record. The issue was the syntax used in MS CRM 4.0 - while it worked, it wasn't the "supported" MS CRM method. There are two fixes.

Well, maybe it's not that fun for the typical developer, but it sure is easy. Some of our legacy projects are using XML data islands to store business rules on the client-side, and using XPath makes node navigation a snap. For instance, let's say we want to populate a picklist with a couple options when two other controls have a certain value.

I often find that as a consultant/developer, my most productive times are Friday evenings after about 4:30 or 5:00. Why is this? It's because the office usually clears out a little early on Friday and there's no one here to bother me. I often joke I can get done more on Friday evening between 4-7 than I can in the rest of the week combined because there are fewer distractions: fewer people stopping by my desk, fewer phone calls and fewer emails (both internal and external).

I wanted to take the time to analyze how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can optimize the performance of an Inside Sales professional. When I think inside sales, I think telemarketing, email marketing and appointment setting. Telemarketing is tough enough as it is; therefore, it's essential to have the best resources available for your telemarketers/inside sales people. CRM itself, really is the number one tool an inside sales professional relies on to achieve their goals. I took a step back to flesh out how

Recently, a friend told me that I should check Pluralsight. I am very thankful that he did. In essence, they produce tutorial videos for IT professionals. After browsing through their catalog, I was convinced and signed up for a subscription (approximately $30 a month and I still feel like I am robbing them). Here at Topline, we have been wanting to take some of our oldest projects (which we still work on for maintenance purposes) and, client willing, upgrade them to the newer technologies.

We deliver the complete integration and development of sales, marketing and customer service technologies. TopLine Strategies’ project management is designed to achieve 100 percent user adoption of the technologies implemented, and deliver measurable returns on investment for clients.

Whether our clients are searching for an expert firm to analyze and execute a critical project, employees to augment an information technology team or contractors to assist with technology needs, we deliver on-time, cost-effective solutions that optimize client results. Over the years, our methods have remained the same: establish long-term relationships, assess requirements, research and analyze options, recommend appropriate solutions, implement, integrate and optimize performance.

We deliver the complete integration and development of sales, marketing and customer service technologies. TopLine Strategies’ project management is designed to achieve 100 percent user adoption of the technologies implemented, and deliver measurable returns on investment for clients.

Whether our clients are searching for an expert firm to analyze and execute a critical project, employees to augment an information technology team or contractors to assist with technology needs, we deliver on-time, cost-effective solutions that optimize client results. Over the years, our methods have remained the same: establish long-term relationships, assess requirements, research and analyze options, recommend appropriate solutions, implement, integrate and optimize performance.